The X Menakkah
by ChampagneWishes
Summary: Ryan's sick at Christmakkah and Seth tries to cheer him up by telling him the story of Ryan's arrival in Newport if they were X-Men/Mutants. Featuring: Sandy as Professor X and lot's of sick!Ryan and Cohen Fam-bonding better than it sounds I promise!
1. Mono is not a Christmakkah Miracle

**A/N: Alright, so I was in the mood to do something a little different... And I when I started working on a new story on fictionpress *insert shameless self- promotion here* about people with super powers and somehow I got to thinking about the OC meets the X-Men and how that would all play out and the AU where that would be happening. And that sort of evolved into this... I hope you all enjoy**

* * *

Ryan was exhausted. The last day of finals for winter break had been brutal, and he was looking forward to going home and sleeping for a long- time. The Cohen's of course greeted him as if he had just made a trans-atlantic voyage home instead of just walking a few blocks.

"How were finals?" Sandy asked.

"Fine," Ryan said, he wasn't really in the mood to talk. In fact, all he wanted was his bed. "I think I'm gonna take a nap..." He said.

Sandy and Kirsten exchanged glances, "Are you feeling okay?" Kirsten asked, looking concerned.

"Yeah, fine, just tired... You know finals and everything..."

"Right of course," Her face relaxed. "Are you still feeling up to picking up Seth at the airport?"

Ryan nodded quickly, "Yeah, of course. Wake me up in an hour?"

"Sure," Sandy smiled at him. As Ryan left the room he could hear the Cohen's whispering.

"Do you really think he's okay?" Kirsten asked.

"Of course, like he said, he did just finish his finals." Sandy said.

"He looked a little pale..."

"He's tired sweetie, don't worry, you have two weeks to fuss over him- don't start yet."

Ryan was relieved that Sandy had managed to convince Kirsten not to hover. He went up to the bedroom he shared with Seth at the Berekly house, and crashed onto his bed, and fell asleep almost immediatly.

All too soon, Kirsten was shaking him awake, "Hey Ryan, time to get up... Do you want something to eat before you pick up Seth?"

"Ah, no, I'm good." Ryan said. He hadn't been hungry all day. As he left the warmth of his blankets he felt a sudden chill and decided that winter had officially arrived in California. He grabbed a sweatshirt and headed downstairs. Pausing only to grab his keys before he rushed out the door.

"Don't you wanna know what airline?" Sandy called after him.

"No- Seth's already texted me three times!" Ryan called back. Was he just imagining it or did his throat feel a little sore when he yelled. Ryan prayed to the combined dieties of Christmakkah that he wasn't coming down with something.

"Ryan!" Seth waved enthusiastically as he left the gate area. The two brothers embraced.

"How's school man?"

"Awesome. I'm surrounded by kids who are just like me and I think water polo players are actually banned from coming onto the campus. And my homework- is drawing. I think I should have just skipped the whole high school and just gone straight to college."

Ryan grinned, "Glad to hear it man."

"How's school for you?"

"It's good."

"Just good- no more details than that? Come on, you're Ryan Atwood. You're single. You're girl drama is thousands of miles away... And all you can say is 'good'?"

"Sorry man, finals wiped me out." Ryan shrugged.

"So there's no girls?"

Ryan smirked, "Maybe."

"Maybe? Come on Ryan what kind of answer is that? You do realize that my girlfriend is traveling around the country on a bus- and since we're doing that long- distance thing I'm left with only having the option of living vicariously through you. So come on! Give me something!"

"Alright, there kind of was a girl..." Ryan admitted.

"Really? And?"

"And... And nothing... We kind of saw each other... Then things just sort of fizzled out... Hey, do you wanna drive?" Ryan offered Seth the keys. He was tired and felt a headache building. That nap had not been long enough...

"Yeah sure!" Seth jumped at the chance and immediatly forgot all about interrogating Ryan about his girl situation.

****************************************

Sandy and Kirsten greeted Seth at the door and then after they were done, looked around puzzled, "What happened to Ryan?" Sandy asked.

Seth pouted, "He fell asleep in the car..." Seth was annoyed. He had been right in the middle of a particularly scintilating anectdote about his obssessive- compulsive roommate when he had glanced over and noticed that Ryan wasn't listening and had in fact, fallen asleep.

"Well, I think he's pretty wiped out from finals. We had to get him up from a nap to go and get you..." Kirsten tried to excuse Ryan's behavior.

At that moment, a touseled look Ryan came up the path, blinking his eyes blearily, "Sorry man, guess those all- nighters caught up to me." Ryan smiled sheepishly. He hadn't in fact pulled any all- nighters but he still felt like he hadn't slept in days.

"That's okay man- we have three weeks right?"

"Right," Ryan was relieved that Seth was letting him off the hook.

"Are you hungry?" Kirsten asked.

"Starving!" Seth said.

"Ryan?"

"No thanks... I'm going..."

"To take a nap?" Seth suggested.

"Yeah..." Ryan shrugged, "Hopefully I'll be more awake by dinner."

Even at dinner, despite a three hour nap, Ryan still felt tired, and the headache seemed to be building strength. He had been hoping the nap and a double dose of Tylenol would have taken care of that.

He forced himself to take a few bites of dinner, even though he wasn't hungry, and forced himself not to cringe when Sophie banged her spoon loudly against her plastic tray.

Despite a strong desire to finish dinner and then head straight back to bed, he knew he would be required to spend at least a few hours playing video games with Seth. In a concialltory gesture, Seth offered him a choice between video games and a movie, but Ryan knew if they watched a movie there would be no way he'd be able to stay awake, so he decided that video games would be safer. He wasn't sure if Seth would forgive him if he fell asleep _again_.

However, after Seth kicked his butt three successive times, Seth turned to him. "What's wrong man? Out of practice?"

"Sorry, man." In truth, he was having trouble even keeping his eyes open enough to play.

Seth sighed, "Rematch tomorrow?"

"Sounds good..." Ryan said, getting to his feet. "I'm going to bed."

"I figured," Seth shrugged. "I'm going to watch a movie out here."

"'Kay, see you in the morning." Ryan waved and walked off to bed.

Kirsten and Sandy had just finished putting Sophie to bed when they came into the living room and found Seth playing video games by himself.

"Where's Ryan?" Sandy asked.

Seth shrugged, "He was tired. He went to bed."

"He went to be bed?" Kirsten and Sandy exchanged a glance. It wasn't even nine o'clock yet! And by there count, so far all Ryan had done since he had gotten home was sleep.

"Think we should check on him?" Kirsten asked anxiously.

"Well, if he's sleeping, he probably needs the rest... No point in waking him up right?"

"I guess," Kirsten nodded, but Sandy and Seth could tell she didn't really agree.

"Seriously Mom, let him sleep. We have a serious Doom Destructor 4 Challenge Match tomorrow- I need him at the top of his game." Seth defended Ryan. Seth had known kids who after long stretches of studying for days on end with little food and a lot of caffiene took a few days to recover. He saw nothing particularly abnormal in Ryan's behavior.

"Alright," Kirsten sighed, convinced she needed to give Ryan a pass for at least today.

****************************************

"Well, well, sleeping beauty finally decided to join us." Sandy joked when Seth appeared in the kitchen at around 1pm the next day.

Seth shrugged as he opened a box of cereal and started to eat straight from the box. "Oh- no, you're in a house. Not a dorm. We're need to recivilize you." Kirsten snatched the box from her son's hand and poured him a bowl of cereal. Seth waited expectantly. Kirsten rolled her eyes, "You can get your own milk."

"Where's your partner in crime?" Sandy asked, "I thought you had some destruction and doom to get to."

Seth sighed and shrugged, "He's still asleep. I tried to wake him up and he almost bit my hand off."

"Well, did he say anything?" Kirsten asked, growing slightly anxious.

Seth shrugged and dove into his cereal, "Yeah- go away and leave him alone." Kirsten and Sandy exchanged worried glances. Such behavior was unusual coming from Ryan, especially towards his brother, unless something was wrong.

"Think I should check on him now?" Kirsten challenged Sandy.

"Go for it Mom, but don't blame me if you lose a hand."

Kirsten ignored him and swept up the stairs towards her sons' room. She knocked softly on the door, "Ryan?" She was unsurprised when there was no response. She tried once more out of curtosey and then opened the door. She walked over to Ryan and gently shook his shoulder. "Ryan?"

Blue eyes opened, and took a moment to focus- "Kirsten?"

"There you are sleepy head, I thought you might be hungry. I was going to make pancakes." It was a lie, but it was the only excuse she could come up with.

"No thanks. Not hungry." Ryan rolled over and away from her.

"Ryan, you've barely eaten anything since you got home. Are you feeling okay?"

"Fine, just tired." Ryan said, his eyes closed again.

"Ryan!" Now Kirsten was starting to feel a bit annoyed- Ryan had slept for almost 24 hours straight. "Look, if you're sick that's one thing, but otherwise I think you've slept enough. Sleeping too much isn't good for you either."

"Fine," Ryan groaned and sat up, and noticed a slight but unexpected pain in his left side. "I'll get up..." He muttered, "Could you give me some... privacy?"

"Oh right, of course." Kirsten flushed slightly, "I'll be downstairs."

"kay..." Ryan said, as he groaned inwardly, and wished for the peace and quiet of his dorm where he could sleep without being disturbed. He rolled his stiff neck, then noticed that he was freezing, and he shivered slightly as he pulled on his favorite hoodie and pair of sweatpants. Feeling warmer, but still a bit cold, he forced himself to go downstairs and make an appearance, as he inwardly wondered how long until he could go back to sleep. Even the journey from his bedroom to the kitchen had been tiring, and the steps reminded him of the pain in his side. Left side. Not appendix. That was good. He swallowed. The sore throat was getting worse. His Christmakkah prayers seemed to have gone unanswered. Maybe he should just admit to defeat now... At least he would be allowed to sleep. But as he appeared in the kitchen and the three Cohen's grinned at him, he decided he didn't want to let them down. Especially Seth who he hadn't seen in months.

"Mom's making pancakes!" Seth announced happily.

"Awesome," Ryan said, with as much enthusiasm as he could muster as he slid into a chair at the table and rolled his neck again, in attempt to loosen it up a bit.

"Neck bothering you?" Sandy asked.

Ryan shrugged and then turned into a shoulder roll, "Guess I slept on it wrong..."

"You've been asleep for about 15 hours straight, you were bound to sleep on it wrong at some point..." Seth muttered. Clearly he was a little bitter about Ryan's lack-of-enthusiasm so far towards anything except sleeping.

"Sorry," Ryan muttered. The kitchen was freezing, and he clenched his teeth hard to keep from actually shivering. "Is it cold in here?" He asked.

"Cold? Ryan my friend- you haven't seen cold until you've been in the North east. You want cold- I'm talking single digits man, occasionally double- but we're talking in the wrong direction, as in _negative_."

"Could have gone to school in California..." Ryan pointed out smirking a little.

"Ryan, are you coming down with something?" Sandy asked, moving towards him as if getting ready for a forehead- feeling. Ryan ducked away from him.

"Nah, just not used to this northern California weather."

"Could have gone to UCLA..." Seth retorted.

"Here boys," Kirsten put a plate of fluffy golden brown pancakes in front of them. A perfect pat of butter sat on top of them, slowly melting in a small pool.

"Wow Mom!" Seth said, as he dumped maple syrup over them. "This is awesome!"

"Yeah," Ryan tried to smile, but he had never had less interest in actually putting a bite of anything into his mouth.

"Well, dig in!" Kirsten said, as if Ryan was hesitating because he was waiting for her permission. Her and Sandy had their eyes locked on him. He cut a small bite and put it in his mouth. Chewed. And swallowed mechanically. It hurt to swallow. He looked with dismay at the two enormous pancakes sitting on his plate. He knew he had barely eaten over the last 24 hours and knew normally that his stomach would have been rumbling right now. Instead all he could think about was his bed.

He looked over at Seth who was wolfing the pancakes down with enthusiasm, and then at Kirsten and Sandy who were watching him expectantly. He sighed, knowing that with his next few words he was totally going to let them all down. He didn't want to be the one to ruin Christmakkah, but in all honesty, he just felt like crap, and all he wanted was his bed.

He pushed the plate away, "Sorry, I'm really not hungry." Everyone stared at him, "I- I'm not feeling well..." He admitted.

"Pay up," Kirsten said, holding out a hand to Sandy.

"Alright, you win..." Sandy fished his wallet out of his back pocket and handed Kirsten a five. "I thought he was going to hold out from admitting it for at least another three hours."

"What's-?" He looked back and forth between them confused, as Kristen walked over to him and put an arm around his shoulders and held him in a half- hug as her other hand reached up and felt his forehead.

"Yup, definitely feverish."

"Ryan man, why didn't you say you were sick?" Seth muttered down at his pancake. He was clearly not happy that his brother and friend was sick, but he was more hurt that Ryan hadn't said anything to him.

"I didn't want to ruin Chrismakkah..." Ryan muttered.

"Oh sweetie..." Kirsten kissed his hot forehead. "Let's get you back to bed. Hopefully this will be a quick thing, and you'll be fine by Christmakkah."

********************************

Kirsten got him settled in bed with a cool washcloth on his forhead, a glass of water and a mug of tea with extra honey and gave him two Advil. His temperature was at 101.2 and he knew he wasn't the only one hoping it wouldn't get much higher. "Aside from the fever and the tiredness... Is anything else bothering you?" Kirsten asked.

Ryan nodded, "My throat really hurts..."

"Hmm..." Kirsten reached under his jaw and felt his tonsils, "Your lymph nodes are a little swollen, you might have strep. I'll make an appointment with the doctor." Ryan looked like he was about to protest but Kirsten stopped him, "The sooner we get you on antibiotics, the sooner you can feel better.

*******************************

"Hey, how are you feeling?" Kirsten gently woke him up around 9pm that night. He had been asleep since she had tucked him after his failed attempt at breakfast.

"Bad." He admitted.

"Well, we'll get you to the doctor tomorrow okay? Here, take some more Tylenol." She shook out two pills and handed them to Ryan. Ryan put one in his mouth and tried to swallow it, and then winced.

"Hurts..." He whimpered. Glad Seth wasn't in the room to see him act like such a baby.

"Drink some water." Ryan took a tiny sip and managed to get the pill down, then he looked in dismay at the other pill and up at Kirsten.

"I-I'll just take one... For now..." Talking hurt.

"Let's take your temperature, see how high it is, okay?" He was relieved that Kirsten had gotten one of those ear- thermometers now that there was a baby in the house. "103.2... Ryan, you really need to take this medicine, okay?" He nodded. Took the other pill and winced as he swallowed the cool water. The tea from earlier had gone untouched. "Don't worry, we're seeing the doctor tomorrow." Kirsten rubbed his arm reassuringly and took off to get a fresh wet washcloth for his head.

*******************************

"Hmmm..." Ryan didn't like how the doctor kept saying "hmm." He had taken his temperature, it had climbed since the day before and was now at 102.7 and stubbornly hovering there even with regular doses of Tylenol. The rest of the night before had seemed like one long painful nightmare. The night before, in desperation, with his fever climbing above 103 and hardly able to drink anything because of the pain, Kirsten had taken several ice cubes and smashed them up for him to suck on. The doctor was prodding the lymphnodes in his throat now.

"Is it strep?" Kirsten asked.

"It might be... Ryan lie back." Without a word, Ryan obeyed, and lay back on the narrow bed.

"Aside from the fever, have there been any other symptoms?"

"Well, he's be exhausted... He's been sleeping almost non- stop."

"Any coughing or congestion?"

"No... None that I know of." The doctor had given up asking Ryan questions ater Ryan had complained of the pain associated with speaking. "Does that hurt?" The doctor lightly tapped the tender spot on Ryan's left side. How did doctor's always know exactly where to touch to make it hurt?

Ryan winced and nodded. "Hmm... I think we're looking at a classic case of mononucleousis."

"Mono?" Ryan moaned.

"Mono? The kissing disease?" Kirsten asked, looking slightly horrified.

The doctor chuckled, "It can be spead through saliva, it can also be spread through sharing drinks or even shaking hands."

"Soccer... we share water bottles." Ryan said weakly.

"Well, I'm sure there's a few kids on the team feeling just as terrible as you are right about now." The doctor smiled kindly at him, as if to reassure him.

_Mono_... Kirsten thought, _So much for Ryan's Christmakkah. _Hailey had gotten it when they were kids. She'd been laid up for nearly two weeks. She hoped Ryan's case proved to be more mild.


	2. A Gift for Ryan

"You got the _kissing _disease?" Ryan woke upoto find Seth yelling at him from the doorway of the bedroom with a mixture of horror, fascination and well... Like he was a little amused as well.

"Seth... Keep it down, Ryan needs his rest..." Kirsten passed him holding a basket of Seth's freshly laundered clothing and set it down in the boy's bedroom.

"Well duh Mom, of course he does, he has _mono_, the _kissing_ disease." Seth reminded her.

Kirsten rolled her eyes, and Ryan barely managed to glare as sleep pulled him back under. Seth watched Ryan fall back to sleep and the traces of amusement disappeared from his face, "Woah... He's like really sick..." He whispered, his voice at a reasonable decible.

Kirsten nodded and pulled him out of the doorway and shut the door behind her. "Look Seth, I know bedside manner really isn't your strong suit, but Ryan feels bad enough about being sick at Christmakkah without you making him feel worse- okay?"

Seth nodded, "Yeah, okay."

"Good."

"I gotta go."

"Go? Go where?" Kirsten asked.

"I gotta work on Ryan's present."

"Ryan's present?"

"Yeah, it's not quite finished."

"What is it?"

Seth smiled mischeviously, "Oh you'll see."

**********************************

A/N: Yes, I know its really short- I promise a longer one ASAP


	3. The OC Special Limited Edition

"Seth?" Ryan stirred underneath his pile of blankets and blinked blearily at Seth- who was grinning broadly at him. "Whadda-you-want?" He muttered, as he rolled over. It was Christmas morning, and Ryan was still mostly bed- bound. He braced himself for an onslaught of Seth who he was certain was about to drag him out of bed to come and celebrate Christmakkah morning, and Ryan was not in the mood for it. He raised his eyes to the clock- it was almost 11am. He was slightly surprised Seth had even let him sleep in this long!

"I have your Christmakkah present!"

"Seth... can it wait?" Ryan begged. He could almost hear Seth's grin fall into a pout.

"Mom and Dad already put off Christmakkah for you Ryan,"

"They did-?"

"Yes, I just wanna give you your present today."

"Can it wait?"

"Will just look at it?"

Ryan sighed and sat up in bed, "Fine, what is it?" With his smile stretched from ear to ear Seth handed Ryan a thin wrapped package. Ryan felt the weight. "A comic? Thanks Seth... I'll read it later.." He put it down, unopened and rolled over.

"Oh no- this is a special comic!"

"Not another edition of Ryan and his fists of fury?"

"Not exactly..." Seth said evasively, "Will you just open it?" He picked it up off the nightstand and dropped it over the lump that was Ryan so it landed right next to him.

"Alright... Alright..." Ryan decided that the easiest way to get rid of Seth would be just to give him what he wanted. He sat back up and carefully tore the paper off the thin book. "Huh? What's this?" He asked. "Is this...?" He stared at his comic book-self. Seth had depicted him with fists that had been drawn to look they were made of rocks.

"X-Men: The Special O.C. Edition!" Seth announced proudly.

"Huh?"

"Here," Seth took back the comic, "I'm gonna read it to you."

"You're gonna read it to me? Seth, we're 18 years old..."

"Just shut up and listen, and if you're really good, I'll even let you look at the pictures."

"I thought you didn't even like X-Men comics."

"Well, they have a decent premise, I just... Made it better."

"How?"

"Will you let me just read?"

"Alright fine..." All the talking was hurting his throat anyway.

Seth cleared his throat:

"Once upon a time..."

"Really Seth?"

"ONCE upon a time," Seth said as if he hadn't been interrupted. "In Chino. There lived a boy named Ryan Atwood."

________________

A/N: Next chapter- let my first attempts at a cross- over begin! (I promise it will be longer too)


	4. A New Version of Events

A/N: Alright, so the dialogue probably won't be perfect so just try and remember that this is Seth's version of the events of that night

PS This is supposed to be a comic book that Seth wrote/drew since I can't draw this is what I came up with

* * *

"I don't know if this is such a good idea Trey," A nervous looking blond boy says to his dark- haired older brother.

"Don't be such a baby. Besides, if I don't teach you this stuff, who will? Now come on, smash that window."

"Trey, Mom said we're not supposed to use our powers." Ryan glanced around nervously, "She said if we get caught bad people will come and take us away."

"Just do it Ryan! No one's gonna catch us!" Ryan hesistated. "God, you're such a baby." Trey picked up a pipe that was lying nearby and smashed through the car window. "Now come on, get it!" Trey jolted the car with a small electrical shock and the engine came to life. Behind them, Ryan heard the wail of a police siren and jumped into the car.

They took off down the dark street, but it was only moments before red and white lights were flashing in their rearview mirror. Trey floored it, and the car jolted foward. He came around a corner and Ryan realized that car was moving too quickly as it overturned onto it's side.

"Seth, the car didn't flip, we crashed." Ryan interrupted.

"And you're brother doesn't have the power of electricity."

"What's my power again?"

"Do you want me to read it or not?"

"Fine..." Ryan gave up.

"Now where was I... Oh right... The car overturned and the cops surrounded them."

"Ready to fight?" Trey said as he and Ryan climbed out of the wrecked car.

"Trey... Don't... Please..." Ryan whispered. He was limping and there was a cut over his eye.

"I wasn't really hurt in the accident," Ryan interrupted again.

"Yes, but for some reason people seem to like it when you get hurt."

"I know, it's kind of weird."

"Ryan- do you mind?"

"Right- sorry." Ryan went quiet again.

"Trey- please don't fight them." Comic- book Ryan said.

"I don't talk that either..." Ryan muttered at Seth's poor voice impression. This time, Seth didn't even pause.

"Come on little brother- we can totally take them!" He clapped his hands together and summoned a ball of electricity. He fired it at one of the cops, blasting him back 50 feet before he could draw his gun, then summoned another ball of fire.

"Drop it Mutant!" One of the cops said. Ryan heard the cocking of several weapons, and looked around. They were surrounded by cops, all of them with their guns drawn. The cocky look on his brother's face faultered, but he kept the energy surging through his hands and held it in a glowing white ball.

"Trey... Please... Someone's gonna get hurt!" Ryan begged.

"We said drop it Mutant!" The cop yelled again.

"See Ryan! This is how they treat us- to them we're just freaks. Outcasts. If we want anything in this life, you're gonna have to take it!" He fired the ball of energy at the cop who had been yelling.

"NO!" Ryan screamed as the ball of lightning streaked towards the nearest cop.

"Well? And then what happened?" Ryan asked.

"Ryan- is that interest?"

"No..." Ryan crossed his arms in front of his chest. "I just..."

"So you wanna hear more?"

____________________________________________

A/N: Well, do ya? ;)

And I know the last 2 chappies were short but together they = one of a decent size, no?


	5. Professor S and the Nichol Institute

Ryan seemed to suddenly unfreeze, he propelled himself forward, and with put his hands in front of the electric blaze to block it and closed his eyes. His hands hadn't finished transforming yet, and he felt the heat of the blast, and it singed his sleeves, face and shoulder as tried to deflect it. Then suddenly, the heat was gone. Slowly he opened his eyes.

He was lying on his back. He could hear shouts and yells, and a scuffle. He pushed himself slowly to his feet.

"Woah, take it easy there." A hand was on his shoulder. He looked up, a blond kid was leaning over him, his eyes were blue- completely blue, and they glowed softly. "You okay?"

"Yeah. Where's my brother?" He tried to jump to his feet, but the ground swayed unsteadily beneath him, and his knee buckled. The blue- eyed freak caught him around the waist so he didn't fall.

"Is that Luke?" Ryan asked. "What's up with his eyes?"

"There part of his super power,"

"He looks like a guy from Dune,"

"Ryan- is that knowledge of sci fi?"

"No... Come on, keep reading and get this over with..." Ryan grunted.

Seth shook his head, "Your brother's uh... Being detained." Ryan wrestled away from his grasp, and limped a few feet away, and leaned against the side of a police car. _Why has no one arrested me yet?_

"Ryan Atwood?" A voice asked.

"He's over here!" The blond kid yelled. _Traitor_. Ryan thought, _Here the cuffs come now._

A man with dark hair and tanned skin appeared, "Good job Icecraft,"

"Thanks," The blue- eyed kid nodded.

"Ryan, are you okay?" The man asked.

"Where's my brother?" He demanded, he let go of the car, and limped past Ice Claw and dark- haired man. "Trey? Trey?"

His brother was being handcuffed, with special gloves over his hands so he couldn't gather energy. His dark eyes met Ryan's.

"TREY!!!" And then everything went dark.

*********************************

"He's coming around," A soft voice said. Slowly Ryan opened his eyes. His vision blurred for a moment, then he saw a petite blond haired woman smiling down at him.

"Good, welcome back to the world of the living Ryan." The black haired man was leaning over him.

"What the?" Ryan sat bolt upright, and went rip out his armful of tubes, but suddenly found he couldn't move.

"Sorry Ryan, we just need to keep you safe..." The man apologized. "Can you calm down?"

"Where am I? Where's Trey?"

"Trey's in police custody... And you're lucky to not be there as well. We were able to bring you here to treat you medically. Hospitals don't like to take in those with special gifts..." The man explained.

"I'm not gifted... I'm cursed. The Atwood Curse."

"Your powers are not a curse... They just make you different, special... It's not a bad thing. In fact... You showed a lot of people just how useful powers can be. You might have saved the life of those policemen."

"Where am I?"

"Your at the Nichol Institute for Gifted."

"Dad, really, we've talked about this. That name, makes us sound like a psych ward." A curly haired kid appeared, shaking his head.

"Wow Seth, have you been hitting the gym? Look at you, you're ripped. And why aren't you wearing a shirt?" Ryan quipped.

"First of all, in the X-men, everyone has a six pack. Second, have I mentioned that I regret ever teaching you the gift of comedy?"

"So, what are your powers?"

"If you let me keep reading you might find out."

"Fine..."

"Ryan, this is my son Seth, he's like you... Gifted..."

"You know Dad, considering I'm the son of the two most powerful telekentics in the world- why do I have such a lame power?"

Ryan got a demonstration of this supposedly "lame" power when the blue eyed kid appeared a moment later, "Hey geek," He punched Seth in the shoulder, but instead of solid flesh, his skin exploded into silver droplets. Ryan flinched when some of them landed on him, they felt cold, but a moment later Seth pulled them back in and reformed his shoulder.

"Hey Ice breath, why don't you go freeze a lake or something? Preferably with yourself under it."

"Cut it out you two," The black haired man sighed. "Seth, why don't you show Ryan around?"

"Sure thing Prof."

"Prof?"

"Oh right, I know who you are, but you don't me."

"How do you know...?"

"We've been watching you Ryan. I'm Professor Sandy Cohen, but everyone calls me Professor S. And this is my wife Kirsten Nichol."

"Like the school?" Ryan asked.

"My father built this place... Well, post- mortum."

"I'm sure he's rolling over in his grave, actually." Professor grinned. "'And you've already met Icecraft,"

"Nice to meet you man," Icecraft extended a cold hand, "Round here though, everyone calls me Luke."

"And I'm Quick Silver!" Seth announced.


End file.
